


Saving Claude

by Big_Honkin_Soup



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Blood, Broken Bones, Gender-Neutral My Unit | Byleth, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Injury, Losing Battle, Major Character Injury, Minor Spoilers, Multi, Not Beta Read, Other, Pain, Sad, Serious Injuries, Spoilers, animal injury, close to death, injured byleth, injured claude von riegan, minor verdant wind spoilers, no beta we die like men, some depictions of gore, tagged for graphic depictions of violence just incase, tragic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23293240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Big_Honkin_Soup/pseuds/Big_Honkin_Soup
Summary: When trying to take over Enbarr, the Alliance army is bested by an unknown magic. Byleth and Claude are greatly injured and Byleth chooses to try to save Claude.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth & Claude von Riegan, My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Kudos: 27





	Saving Claude

**Author's Note:**

> It's almost 4 in the morning when I am writing this, so I probably made some mistakes! I really need to stop writing so late, but anyway hope you enjoy... I've been weirdly in the mood for writing sad things...

The ringing in Byleth’s ears was the first thing they heard and they felt pain everywhere. They felt very disoriented and tried to recall what was going on. They were face down in the dirt and one of their legs had shooting pain running through it. They slowly started to shift, trying to get up and made it to their hands and knees, their left leg screaming in pain. Then what had happened hit them.

It was the middle of a battle against the Adrestian Empire. They had made it all the way to Enbarr, the capital city. It was a hard battle and the odds did not look like they were in their favor, but they were still holding on to the hope of a win. That’s when Byleth saw them, a mysterious figure unlike anyone else they had seen before. Claude had noticed too and moved to attack, but it was too late. There seemed to almost be a glint in the eyes of the stranger and then massive boulders seemed to rain from the sky, pummeling the Leicester Alliance army. It would seem one landed very close to Byleth.

They slowly got to their feet, their head pounding and tried to get their bearings on what was happening around them, the ringing still the only sound. They glanced off to their right and their heart dropped. Claude was pinned underneath one of the massive rocks, his white wyvern laid about 20 feet away with one of its wings badly torn and it didn’t seem to be moving. 

Byleth stumbled over to Claude as fast as they could, every step bringing agony from their left leg. The ringing began to fade and was being replaced by the sounds of the dying soldiers around them as well as the Imperial soldiers moving in to finish them off. They reached Claude and leaned down to check his pulse and breathing, tears welling up in their eyes. He was still alive, but just barely. The brief relief they felt turned to panic as they observed the situation. The boulder was currently crushing his right leg and some of his right arm, but the rest of him laid limply on the rubble next to the boulder. 

Adderiline kicked in and they helplessly tried to push the massive rock. They then grabbed a hold of him and tried to pull him out from the boulder, managing to free his arm. They fell to their knees next to him, the pain from their leg overwhelming them for a moment. Their hearing had fully returned and they heard his wyvern starting to cry out in pain. They desperately tried again to free his leg, this time pulling from his thigh. They felt his body and heard him cry out in pain.

“Claude!” Byleth leaded over him, cupping the side of his face with their hand, tears spilling from their eyes. 

Claude winced, breathing ruggedly and looked up at them. “Seems, ah, I’ve miscalculated what they could do-” He paused to cry out again. “You have to get out of here.”

“I’m getting you out first.” They returned to pulling at his leg desperately and he screamed out in pain. They felt him grasp their leg and looked back at him.

“It’s no use, Byleth. Leave me- Ahh- I’m stuck. Get as many of the others as you can and fall back.” 

“No, I’m not leaving you.” 

“By, listen to me, dammit. It’s useless to keep pulling my leg. It’s trapped.” He struggled to talk in between gasps of air and grunts of pain. “Look at me for a moment.”

“Claude, we don’t have time to talk. We have to get you free.” They looked back at him.

He gave them a pained smile, a few of his own tears escaped his eyes. “Byleth, please. Save yourself, For me. I love you, been meaning to tell you for a while now but I never thought it was an appropriate time.” 

They moved over to his face again and Claude reached a shaky arm up and careased their cheek shakily.

“Claude, I love you too. That’s why-”

“There they are!” Byleth whipped their head around to see a soldier with a sword drawn heading for them from across the way. They looked around wildly searching for anything to use as a weapon and found an axe lying nearby. They stumbled over to it and readied for the soldier approaching.

1... 2… 3 seconds went by and the soldier was close enough for Byleth to hurl the axe at them, feeling the power of their crest aid them and caught the soldier in the chest, causing them to collapse. It was a risky move as they don’t typically work with axes, but they couldn’t risk close combat at the moment.

Byleth returned to Claude and once again tried to free his leg.

“Please leave me! Run before more soldiers show up.”

“Will you shut up and help me try to free your leg. I refuse to leave you here. I already told you.”

Claude moved to sit up a bit, leaning heavily on his left arm and together they pulled his leg and by the merical of adrenaline, his leg was freed. There was a cracking sound and Claude screamed out in agony once more. Blood poured out from his ankle and Byleth could see what looked like part of his bone. Claude let out a couple choked sobs and Byleth tore at their shirt to make some makeshift bandages to help stop the bleeding. 

“By, I can’t walk like this. It’s pointless.”

Byleth opted to ignore his pleas and finished up with the makeshift bandages. They could already see some blood soaking through, but it was better than nothing.

“I’ll carry you then.”

Before Claude could put up another protest Byleth stooped down, hoisting Claude over their shoulders and stood up again, trying to ignore the pain from their leg, threatening to cause them to pass out again. Claude was notably heavier than them, but they managed to set a slow pace, heading away from the battle. Claude tried his best to help balance on their shoulders and clenched his jaw through the pain running through his body. They made it almost 30 feet when Byleth heard another group of soldiers charging at them. Their stomach dropped and desperately tried to think of a way out of their situation, turning around to see 3 soldiers running towards them. Then, something white swept the soldiers away and Claude’s wyvern took their place. She quickly tore at them and then made her way over to Claude and Byleth, walking with a slight limp and holding a wing at a weird angle.

“That’s my girl.” Claude called out. 

The wyvern caught up to them and nudged Byleth very gently with her nose. Byleth turned back to look at her and she lowered her body close to the ground.

“She wants you to get on her back.”

“But she’s too injured to carry anyone.”

The wyvern made an impatient sounding noise and Claude let out a strained chuckle. “I suggest you do what she wants. It’s about our only hope to get out of here alive. Not to mention she is quite stubborn and headstrong, much like you. And neither of us are exactly in the best of shape to fight her off in about 30 seconds when she decides to just pick you up in her mouth and carry us that way.”

“Alright, alright.” Byleth walked over to the side of the wyvern and helped Claude on first. He managed to make it to the saddle but slumped over to the point Byleth was afraid he might fall. They climbed up next, a bit awkwardly from lack of experience and overall pain and injuries. They settled down in front of Claude and felt him lean heavily against their back, holding onto them with his less injured arm. 

“I’ve taught you how to fly before, right?”

“Once, about a month ago. I almost fell off and demanded we land.”

Claude let out a weak laugh. “Well hold on tight. This will be a bumpy ride as she is injured.”

The wyvern began to move, causing both riders to groan out in pain. She had a hard limp with the extra weight, but took a couple quick steps forward, hoping up onto a large pile of rubble and jumping out into the air. Byleth's heart raced as they tried to hold on with all their strength, feeling the sensation of falling as the wyvern struggled to fly. She flapped her hurt wing extra hard and cried out, but managed to start flying, mainly staying lower to the ground.

Arrows whizzed by, a couple grazing the wyvern and Byleth felt one graze their leg, but still they remained in the air. They flew in silence for a few minutes, leaving the battlefield behind them.

“I can’t believe we made it out alive. I hope the others meet the same fate as us.” They felt Claude shift to press his face into their shoulder, saying through a clenched jaw, “I lead everyone to their doom. How many lost their lives because of me?”

“You couldn’t have known this would happen. Everyone who fought for you was willing to lose their life in battle. We all knew it was a possibility.” 

“Still, if I had noticed sooner, we could have made a retreat, regrouped with the new information and thought of a better plan of attack.”

“There is no use dwelling on that right now. What’s important is that you made it out alive. We need to find a doctor who can help us out and figure out who else made it out alive.”

“You are right Teach… You know, I meant what I said earlier. I really do love you and I was so worried you would die trying to save me.”

“I could never live with myself if I had left you. I love you and your death would haunt me for the rest of my life.”

“Thank you for saving my life. I promise I will make it up to you one day.”

They flew the rest of the way in silence, taking in everything that had just happened and worrying about what the future had in store for them.


End file.
